chapter fifteen
together again...
amid the ruins
Not long after, the civil war sight came into view, it made me feel relief, especially when I see Mike and Bonnie. Knowing that people had made it helped me have hope that everyone did. But once we got closer, it seemed like it was only them.
"It had been so long. We were starting to worry no one else would make it." Bonnie speaks up when we reach their side. "And you, Isabelle. We all thought you were dead"
"Yeah, I've heard. So no one else is here yet?"
"Well, besides..." I follow Mike's eyes towards Kenny sitting on the fountain. Sarita laid in his lap and from the state of her my guess was that she's been bit.
"Now, hopefully, we can figure out a plan," Bonnie says, bringing my attention back to her.
"How's Sarita?" Clementine asks but Mike nor Bonnie answer her instead just look at each other.
"I tried to talk to Kenny and he flipped out on me. Started yelling. Scary shit." Mike answers but avoids the question
"I know he probably didn't mean it. But it was scary." Bonnie agrees.
"I've been nervous to even go near him."
"What, you think he's gonna shoot you?" Jane asks him.
"The way he is right now? I dunno. Maybe. He's not acting rationally." Mike responds to her, sending chills down my spine.
"He's just...he's not thinking straight," Bonnie concludes
"Somebody's gotta do something. We can't just keep sitting here forever." He complained as we all glanced slightly at Clementine. If anyone could get through to Kenny, it had to be her.
"I hate to say it, but Sarita's on her way out. She's probably gonna turn soon." Mike admits, he was just saying what we were all thinking
"Is, uh... Is he gonna take care of her?"
"Jane!" Rebecca snaps at her.
"I know it's not pretty, but it's better than the alternative."
"It's not our decision to make!" Rebecca exclaims
"But it's the one that's gotta be made. We're already up the creek enough without a walker to worry about." Mike cuts in.
"This isn't the first time Kenny's seen someone get bit." Clementine explains
"How'd it go last time?" I ask
"He shouldn't have to do it again" She says sympathetically. Bonnie bends down to Clems height before speaking.
"Clem, I was thinking that, now that you're here, maybe you could go talk to him?"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Clem asks, glancing at me.
"It's better than leaving him to go through this all alone." She answers Clem, but she doesn't look too convinced.
"I know. It'll be hard... But it might be best." Rebecca speaks up.
"Clem, just remember: you did what you thought was right. That's all anyone can do in that situation."
I watch Clementine move over to Kenny and start talking to him, Mike guided us to some benches away from the two talking, Rebecca and Jane were the only ones that sat down as I stood with Mike and Bonnie.
"I'm going crazy just sitting here not doing anything." Mike said as he paces in front of me "You have to agree with me, Isabelle. Aren't you worried about Luke and Nick?"
"Of course i am, but getting worked up about it isn't helping anyone. Just calm down" He sighs before taking a seat beside Jane as Clementine walks over to us.
"Clem! How'd it go?" Rebecca asks
"Kenny's being a jerk." Clementine says as she sighs, Rebecca rubs her arm as I pat her shoulder
"Clem, you can't just expect him to bounce back. What that man's going through..."
"Still. Doesn't exactly help us figure out what we're gonna do now. We've got no food, no water, it's getting damn cold, and we're losing daylight fast." He complains for what seems the hundredth time.
"When the others get back, they'll know what to do. Luke will have a plan." My head hurts, hearing Luke's name and knowing that he might've not made it out of the herd.
"We thought Kenny would have a plan." He snaps.
"Mike...Bonnie..." Rebecca mutters.
Jane stands from her bench, facing us "Mike's got a point. You can't just keep sitting around waiting. Things are difficult enough right now and soon you'll have a baby on your hands, too."
"What, suddenly you're pretending to be concerned?" I speak up, folding my arms over my chest.
"Seeing you people floundering the minute things don't go according to plan has just got me on edge, alright?" She narrows her eyes at me.
"Well, I don't exactly see you stepping up to help right now, either." Mike says
"We should go find Luke, Sarah, and Nick. If they're in trouble, we might be able to help them." Clementine suggests and I nod along with her.
"Clementine's right. After everything...after all this. If there's any chance they're still alive, we need to take it." Rebecca backs up Clementine.
"I'll go. Clem can come with me." Jane says but I quickly step forward. "If they're alive, they can't be far. We can find them... One way or the other."
"I'm going too. Luke's out there, I need to be there when you find him" Jane shakes her head.
"No, no way. We need you here. Rebecca needs you here. Look, I promise i'll get him back to you. But please, stay" She looks at me with honesty and I know what she said to me was the truth. I drop my stance and nod my head.
"Thanks, Jane. Really, just don't let her get hurt out there" She nods as Clem and her leave as I turn to look at Rebecca.
"You got something to protect yourself?"
She nods, showing me her pistol "I've got this. You don't think I'd need to...?" We both look at Kenny, I shrug my shoulders taking a seat beside her.
"Not sure yet"
— — —
Waiting was something that I had surprisingly grown accustom to, especially recently. But maybe I had just found things to take up my time instead of sitting in my own little world for hours.
In a bush near by I found a tennis ball so for about half an hour I was bouncing that against a wall while Bonnie helped out Rebecca and Mike tried to get Kenny to talk to us but he just took Sarita in a tent not long after.
I felt bad for the guy I did, he really loved Sarita but that wasn't Clems fault and if he kept blaming her someone has to say something even if that was me.
"How you doing, Isabelle?" Mikes voice spoke up from behind me, when the ball bounces towards me instead of proceeding to hit it, I take it in my hand and turn around.
"As good as a girl whose boyfriend might be dead can be" I say sarcastically, throwing my ball up and catching it in my hand.
"You should've seen Luke when we heard the gunshot. Took Nick and I to hold him back from running in there. I think he would've made us stay longer if Troy hadn't came up to us" I smile at Mikes words, sounded like Luke.
"Im worried that since he thinks i'm dead, that'll stop him from surviving. I know it sounds self-absorbed but I don't even feel like moving at the off chance he's dead" I sigh as Mike places his hand on my shoulder.
"From the short time i've known the guy, he isn't one to go down easy. Maybe you should go check in on Kenny to get your mind off things" I nod my head as he removes his hand from my shoulder, we turn away from one another going to our tasks.
I stood outside the tent for a second, regretting coming already. The only thing Kenny and I had ever done was argue but now he needed some help even he didn't say it. And I was here to help.
As I pushed the tent flap open to see Sarita in a pool of her own blood and Kenny on his knees.
"Jesus, Kenny. I'm so sorry" He doesn't move or speak, as I sit beside him. I notice the way her grey eyes stare at him, I raise my hand before closing her eyes so she somewhat looks in peace.
"I wish I stopped this, it's all my fault" Kenny whispers, if there was an inkling of noise I probably wouldn't have heard it.
"There's nothing you could've done, Kenny. No matter what you think, no one could do anything. But sitting in here isn't helping anyone, I know she wouldn't want you sitting in here" He looked up at me, his eyes full of tears. This was the first time i've ever seen Kenny this way.
"Then why do I feel so goddamn guilty?" I don't know how to respond, especially when till this day I still believe my dads death was my fault and I definitely knew my mums was.
I move towards Kenny, wrapping my arms around him as he cries into my shoulder, I let him sob as my hand runs up and down his back. A facade can only go for so long before you break, Kenny almost seemed like nothing in the world could hurt him but everyone hurts, everyone.
I can't imagine how'd I be if Clem and Jane came back empty handed.
I probably wouldn't last much longer, especially Nick, he was my only blood family left and although I had my family outside this tent, I needed him here to keep me sane.
"Isabelle?" Clementine speaks up from behind, bringing me away from Kenny as I stand away from him, he goes back to looking at Sarita.
"Clem, is he okay?" I say quietly, hoping she knew what I was talking about, she smiles lightly before nodding her head "Well then, i'll leave you two to talk" I pat Kenny's shoulder before smiling at Clementine as I exited the tent.
The first thing I see is him, and instantly I feel relief and a glaze of happiness comes over me. His back is to me as he talks away to Bonnie who is holding Rebecca.
But before I step towards him I see a small figure in a ball on the floor, my heartaches at Sarah who is shivering in what was either fear or cold. I want to approach her but I can tell she wants to be left alone.
I move towards Luke and my eyes meet Rebeccas, she smiles lightly before looking at Luke, at this point I was only a couple steps away.
"Luke, I think you should turn around" Rebecca says, Luke's glances at her before he turns slightly, his eyes meet mine in surprise. He doesn't move or say anything, just looks at me. I don't know what to do under his gaze, if feels like forever ago when I was last in his arms.
Do i say something or should I wait for him. I almost feel like he's not happy to see me as my eyes fall to my feet, do i walk away and pretend this didn't just happen.
I hear footsteps approaching as I'm suddenly enclosed against someone's chest with their arms holding me again them, I knew instantly, the smell of his was so familiar and welcoming, I melted into him instantly.
"You're alive. Thank god, you're alive" He whispers, as he somehow pulls me even closer to him which I didn't think was possible.
After a couple seconds, he pulls away but not completely, just enough to where we could see each other as he takes my face in his hands softly.
"This is gonna sound stupid, but I think I almost went insane without, christ, Isabelle don't ever do that again" He let his fingers slowly brush circles onto my cheek as my arms wrapped around his waist in comfort.
"I'm not that easy to get rid of, hotshot. Especially, even harder to forget" I smirk lightly as his breath fans my face as the distance slowly closes between us.
"I can definitely agree with you there, Princess" He kisses the corner of my mouth, teasing the inevitable before my hand caught his jaw.
"Don't. Just kiss me, Lucas" I smile as he sears coward, how lips connecting in a flare of emotions. Being so lost without one another and finally being together again it sent me into overdrive. I was so addicted to him already that I was so scared to lose him.
I felt so safe in his arms and the feeling of his lips on mine was something I would never get over, the way goosebumps rose every time and how my stomach flipped in excitement.
Kissing him now was like kissing him for the first time, that feeling of something new and raw of emotion, god was he a good kisser. We pulled away from one another, as I pushed some of his hair out of his face.
"I really like you, Luke"
"Lucky for you, I really like you too" I smile, kissing his cheek as he wrapped his arm around me. My eyes looked past him as my eyes met Janes.
She narrowed her eyes at us, her arms crossed against her chest but when her eyes met mine she quickly turned away and walked off. It sent something unsettling down my spine seeing her act like that.
I look away from her as I try and look for my cousin but my eyes can't seem to find him.
"Where's Nick?" I ask Luke, he looks at me in shock before going to speak but a loud groan catches our attention. I watch Rebeccas pants as a wet stain appears.
"Oh, shit! Does that mean what I think it does?" I hear Luke call out from beside me.
I see her past beginning to soak and she had either peed or something very very bad was happening and something that no one was exactly prepared for.
"Are you okay? How does it feel?" Mike asks stupidly, that is definitely not what you wanna hear when your water breaks.
"It feels wet, that's how it feels!" Rebecca snaps, causing me to jump.
"What's going on?" Clementine asks as Kenny and her join the group around Rebecca.
"Rebecca's water broke!" Bonnie exclaims to the little girl.
"We should... I don't know what we should do." I can tell she's freaking out but I had no idea what to do, I felt helpless.
"Aw, fuck" Luck whispers from beside me, but I don't pay attention to it.
"Kenny. Thank god. I think the baby's coming. What do we do?" Bonnie asks the man that has his back to us, for a split second I don't think he's gonna answer.
"Alright. Alright... Gimme a second."
"No way can Rebecca travel like this." Luke says to the group.
"He's right. She's gonna make a lot of noise. They'll be able to smell her, too. Now you've got no choice but to lock down and ride it out." Jane speaks up, agreeing with Luke.
Something in my gut was telling me something was off with Jane, I noticed her looking at Luke. I understood the starting, Luke was a good looking guy and being in the apocalypse well, that definitely intensified a lot of feelings, trust me I know.
I had always been one to be jealous of girls with Luke, but I had never been this annoyed about it. The minute I saw her looking at him, I tightened my grip on his waist as I pushed myself closer to him. I had no doubt he looked down at me but my eyes were trained on Jane. I felt stupid for being this jealous but I didn't want to lose Luke.
"It hurts more than before. Is something wrong? Oh, god." Rebeccas voice silences my thoughts at her paranoid words.
"This place doesn't seem safe for a baby being born. What should we do first, Kenny?" We all glance over at him, he still looks shaken up by the events in the tent.
"Kenny? Come on. You gotta focus."
"Right, right. Sorry. Clean water, for one thing. And blankets." Kenny stuttered out.
"And we gotta get outta this damn cold, too."
Bonnie comments.
Mike points at a map of the area "That map shows a couple of buildings nearby. Maybe one of them could do the trick?"
"That museum seems like it could be a good start. I'll go." Bonnie suggests
"Good idea. Mike, think you could go with her?" Luke speaks up, stepping away from me as he took over the situation, once again, becoming heavily more attractive.
"Sure thing." Mike answers
"I'll check the building by the river." Jane offers, Luke nods.
"Okay, then. Kenny, you, uh...you stick with Rebecca. And I will check the perimeter for walkers. Sarah? Sarah. You just stay here with Rebecca and Kenny, okay? Belle, I think it's better if you stay here as well" Luke scratches the back of his neck, probably knowing my reaction already.
"What? No. I'll go with Bonnie and Mike. I'm sick of sitting here and doing nothing" I cross my arms, he opens his mouth to speak but I place my hands around his waist "I'll be fine, Skywalker. Stop worrying"
Everyone had begun walking to their tasks as Luke and I stood together for a moment. "You know I can't just stop worrying, especially after yesterday"
I sigh, "I know, but I'm fine Luke. I'm not gonna die every time I leave your site" He nods as I kiss his cheek and pull away from him. I gaze around at the group, not noticing Nick or Carlos.
"Where's Nick and Carlos?" Luke looked at me somewhat confused before he shook his head and put his hand on my shoulder smiling lightly.
"I'm not sure but they could be making their way here now so just be patient" I sigh and nod before I notice Clem and Bonnie near us talking.
"How do we know Jane ain't just gonna take off? Maybe you should go with her. Make sure she comes back." Bonnie says to Clementine, I didn't blame her distrust with the women.
"What do you mean by that?" I side eye Luke at his sudden snap.
"Y'know, she doesn't seem to like being around people much. And she volunteered to head off awful fast. I guess it could be nothing."
"She's helped us so far." Clementine says, Luke nods along with her.
"Yeah, but you heard her on the walk, Clem. She'd save her own life before anyone's here" I speak up, Clem seemed shocked by my outburst.
"We can't expect her to risk her life for us, she barely knows us" Luke speaks up from beside me, defending her. Now I was annoyed.
"And? I risked my own skin for Clementine multiple times. You don't need to know someone to risk yourself for them" I barge past him, before I turn around to say one last thing "You better go check on your girlfriend to see if she's run off"